As the Krewe of Athenians called on guests to attend its 59th annual ball, members were honored to be the first mystic so­ciety in the area to host a pre­sentation of debutantes at the Renaissance Montgomery Hotel & Spa at the Convention Center.

The special event, “Athenian Renaissance: A Debutante Ball hosted in Three Acts,” was planned to meticulous detail. Highlights included a humor­ous skit and a majestic presenta­tion ceremony in the Montgom­ery Performing Arts Centre and a long night of celebration in the hotel’s grand ballroom.

Special guests from New Or­leans included Lori and Rick Murphy; Marie and Brad Growden; Cindy Roth; and Andree and John Hainkel.

Lori and Brad are descended from Arthur Franklin (Frank) Growden, who emigrated from New Zealand to the USA, and has descendants in Tennessee, New Orleans, Alaska and other places in the US.

3 Responses

Re: Your question about Mardi Gras in Montgomery. There are several Mardi Gras style “krewes” in Montgomery, Alabama. They serve as debutante balls. There are many others in Mobile, Alabama as well. The Athenians krewe in Montgomery is the sister organization of the Krewe of Athenians in New Orleans, which is celebrating its 100th ball this year. My son, Thomas Morgan Growden will serve as a page on this historic occasion.

Thanks for the explanation — so do they also have a Mardi Gras parade in Montgomery? I thought that was what the krewes were involved in organising. Excuse my ignorance and dumb questions from this distance!

There are no parades that I know of in Montgomery. There are some in Mobile, I believe. The krewes in Montgomery just put on the Balls. There are many krewes in New Orleans who do it the same way. They don’t parade, they just have masked balls. Some do both. It just depends on the organization.